{"id":10690,"date":"2019-07-05T10:55:38","date_gmt":"2019-07-05T10:55:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/?p=10690"},"modified":"2019-07-05T10:55:38","modified_gmt":"2019-07-05T10:55:38","slug":"science-fiction-monthly-v03n01-february-1976","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/?p=10690","title":{"rendered":"Science Fiction Monthly v03n01, February 1976"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0001.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"10694\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/?attachment_id=10694\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0001x600.jpg?fit=423%2C600&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"423,600\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;OpticPro A320L&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1561035388&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"SFMv03n01-0001&amp;#215;600\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0001x600.jpg?fit=141%2C200&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0001x600.jpg?fit=423%2C600&amp;ssl=1\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-10694 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0001x600.jpg?resize=423%2C600&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"423\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0001x600.jpg?w=423&amp;ssl=1 423w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0001x600.jpg?resize=141%2C200&amp;ssl=1 141w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 423px) 100vw, 423px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>ISFDB <a href=\"http:\/\/www.isfdb.org\/cgi-bin\/pl.cgi?290865\">link<\/a><sup>1<\/sup><br \/>\nArchive.org <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/sciencefictionmonthlyv03n01197602_20190702\">link<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">_____________________<\/p>\n<p>Editor, Julie Davis; Executive Editor, Pat Hornsey<\/p>\n<p>Fiction:<br \/>\n<strong><em>The Highest Dive<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 short story by Jack Williamson <strong>\u2217\u2217\u2217<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong><em>Deep Freeze<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 short fiction by David Grigg <strong>\u2217\u2217\u2217<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong><em>Second Einstein<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 short fiction by C. D. Renmore <strong>\u2217\u2217<\/strong>+<\/p>\n<p>Non-fiction:<br \/>\n<strong><em>Cover <\/em><\/strong>\u2022 by Jim Burns<br \/>\n<strong><em>Interior artwork<\/em><\/strong> Tony Roberts (x2), Eddie Jones, Jim Burns, Patrick Woodroffe, Tony Masero, Bruce Pennington, Peter Jones, uncredited (x2)<br \/>\n<strong><em>Editorial<\/em><\/strong><br \/>\n<strong><em>Book Reviews<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 by Malcolm Edwards (x4), John Brosnan, Peter Weston, Peter Linnett<br \/>\n<strong><em>A Look at Space 1999<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 essay by John Brosnan<br \/>\n<strong><em>News <\/em><\/strong>\u2022 by Julie Davis<br \/>\n<strong><em>SF in the Cinema: The Ultimate Warrior<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 film review by John Brosnan<br \/>\n<strong><em>Paperbacks on Trial<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 book review matrix by Maxim Jakubowski<br \/>\n<strong><em>On the Way to the Stars: Part Three: Into the Abyss<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 essay by Peter Weston<br \/>\n<strong><em>Letters<\/em><\/strong><br \/>\n<strong><em>The Query Box<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 by Walter Gillings [as by Thomas Sheridan]<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">_____________________<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0004.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"10696\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/?attachment_id=10696\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0004x600.jpg?fit=423%2C600&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"423,600\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;OpticPro A320L&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1561035475&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"SFMv03n01-0004&amp;#215;600\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0004x600.jpg?fit=141%2C200&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0004x600.jpg?fit=423%2C600&amp;ssl=1\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-10696\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0004x600.jpg?resize=423%2C600&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"423\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0004x600.jpg?w=423&amp;ssl=1 423w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0004x600.jpg?resize=141%2C200&amp;ssl=1 141w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 423px) 100vw, 423px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>The Highest Dive<\/em><\/strong> by Jack Williamson<sup>2<\/sup> is an old-school SF story that opens with a young man called Max caught in a violent storm on Atlas, a massive alien planet with very low gravity and high winds. As Max struggles to avoid being blown away he lapses into unconsciousness, and the story flashbacks to his time on Earth, his decision to go to the planet, and his familiarisation on arrival. This latter includes a trip to a pool:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>He saw no water anywhere. The ridge was nearly flat on top, flaked and cracked with time. Ropes stretched along its rim. The reddish desert lay far, far below. Feeling bewildered, he looked back at Komatsu.<br \/>\n\u2018There\u2019s our pool.\u2019 Komatsu leaned out to point straight down. \u2018The only open water we\u2019ve found on Atlas.\u2019<br \/>\nHe gripped the rope and looked. The time-worn wall of something like black rock dropped straight down so far it made him giddy. At last he found the pool\u2014a small round mirror of bright blue water tucked under the very foot of that frightening cliff.<br \/>\n\u2018It\u2019s deep enough.\u2019 Queerly casual, Komatsu pointed at another hand-rope, stretching from their feet to a rock down in the pool. \u2018We climb that to get back.\u2019 He grinned at Max. \u2018Want me to go first?\u2019<br \/>\n\u2018You\u2019ve got to be kidding!\u2019 Max stared at his dark, gaunt face. \u2018We\u2019re too . . . too high!\u2019<br \/>\n\u2018Just a thousand feet.\u2019 Komatsu\u2019s grin grew wider. \u2018About the same as ten at home. You fall slow here, kid. With air resistance, your terminal velocity is about fifteen feet a second. From any height, you never fall faster. Watch me.\u2019<br \/>\nHe peeled off his yellow suit, moved to the rim in a lazy, one legged dance, floated over it. Max leaned out to watch him drifting slowly down, arms spread like wings to guide him. He was a long time in the air, and his body had dwindled to a far dark speck before he broke the blue mirror of the pool.\u00a0 p. 3<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>When Max recovers consciousness he finds himself miles up in the air. As the near-permanent clouds temporarily clear, he sees (spoiler) a huge alien city. Max contacts his team, and they gain an insight into what the planet really is . . . . After this conversation, Max\u2019s only chance of survival is to try control his descent to dive into a body of water beside the camp.<br \/>\nThis has a slightly dated feel, and there is no explanation as to why the alien city wasn\u2019t revealed earlier by ground radar, but the story isn\u2019t bad, and the final scene gives a mini-sense of wonder buzz.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0020.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"10704\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/?attachment_id=10704\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0020x600.jpg?fit=833%2C600&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"833,600\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;OpticPro A320L&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1561036099&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"SFMv03n01-0020&amp;#215;600\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0020x600.jpg?fit=278%2C200&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0020x600.jpg?fit=625%2C450&amp;ssl=1\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-10704\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0020x600.jpg?resize=625%2C450&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"625\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0020x600.jpg?w=833&amp;ssl=1 833w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0020x600.jpg?resize=278%2C200&amp;ssl=1 278w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0020x600.jpg?resize=624%2C449&amp;ssl=1 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 625px) 100vw, 625px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Deep Freeze<\/em><\/strong> by David Grigg starts with the protagonist waking up in an underground deep-sleep\/suspended animation facility. When he explores the upper levels and the surface he discovers there has been a nuclear war, and two hundred years have passed\u2014not the thirty he expected.<br \/>\nHe wanders about on the surface for a while and then returns to the facility, where he wakes a young woman for company. She is devastated to find out her cancer won\u2019t be cured (all the frozen, bar the corrupt protagonist, were put into deep sleep to await a cure for their conditions).<br \/>\nThe man then goes out again, this time to look for food, and surprises a primitive tribe which flees. He takes their abandoned possessions and food back to the girl but, after they eat, she asks him to put her back to sleep. He does this, and then goes to find the tribe.<br \/>\nAll of this back and forth is a setup for the final section where, after he has made contact with the tribe (spoiler), he goes hunting with them. The shock ending has him discover that they are eating the occupants of the cryogenic facility!<br \/>\nI remember liking this the first time around, and, apart from a dull section after he wakes, its grisly inevitability is still quite entertaining.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0027.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"10710\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/?attachment_id=10710\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0027x600.jpg?fit=423%2C600&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"423,600\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;OpticPro A320L&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1561036423&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"SFMv03n01-0027&amp;#215;600\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0027x600.jpg?fit=141%2C200&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0027x600.jpg?fit=423%2C600&amp;ssl=1\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-10710 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0027x600.jpg?resize=423%2C600&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"423\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0027x600.jpg?w=423&amp;ssl=1 423w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0027x600.jpg?resize=141%2C200&amp;ssl=1 141w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 423px) 100vw, 423px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The last story <strong><em>Second Einstein<\/em><\/strong>, is by C. D. Renmore, and appears to be the writer\u2019s debut.<sup>3<\/sup> It starts with a failed PhD student called Lionel White in an observatory, where recalls his failed thesis defence at the hands of a professor called Haynes:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>For the hundredth time, he re-lived the interview; every detail was still there even after five long years. He had started, at Haynes\u2019 request, by outlining the main thesis, which he called his Creative Correlation Hypothesis.<br \/>\nIn its simplest and most compact form, this hypothesis said that, in scientific research, if a discovery isn\u2019t made by person A, then it will be made by person B, eventually.<br \/>\n[. . .]<br \/>\nBut then White had gone further and, perhaps too enthusiastically, given his conclusion: that once the correlation of scientific effort exceeds a certain threshold, the tide of knowledge will advance at an average rate that is almost independent of individual brilliance. In particular, individual geniuses no longer set the pace of scientific progress. The massed attack on the frontier of science will progress, said White, at an average rate that even a Newton or an Einstein could not match.<br \/>\nHaynes seemed about to explode, but subsided sufficiently to be merely condescending in his reply. \u2018Look here, young man, you had better get one or two things straight. Firstly, you can\u2019t measure an Einstein or a Newton in multiples of lesser men. That would be as ridiculous as to suggest that two men each with an IQ of 100 are as good as one man with an IQ of 200. Secondly, you\u2019re being too superficial in judging the equivalence of two peoples\u2019 work. You said that Heisenberg\u2019s matrix mechanics were essentially equivalent to Schrodinger\u2019s wave equation. Would you care to justify that in any detail? Any detail?\u2019<br \/>\nWhite stared at the floor, as if seeking inspiration there. Even if he could answer Haynes\u2019 question in detail\u2014which he could not\u2014it was the wrong question! Utterly beside the point.<br \/>\n[. . .]<br \/>\n\u2018I take your point, of course, sir. But look at it in this way: will you grant that over ninety per cent of the scientists who ever lived are still alive today, in 1976?\u2019<br \/>\n\u2018Certainly.\u2019<br \/>\n\u2018And that the combined resources of all the laboratories on Earth are sufficient to conduct literally thousands of related experiments on virtually any aspect of modern physics?\u2019<br \/>\n\u2018With some reservations, yes; but what are you getting at?\u2019<br \/>\n\u2018Simply this, sir: the probability of a major breakthrough depends on the number of scientists and the number of experiments; plus of course a correlation factor which will in general be complex. Although their experiments will not all be inspired ones, eventually someone, somewhere, will do just the experiment that an Einstein or a Newton would have suggested.<br \/>\nAnd, of course, they will make the same discovery. There are many millions of scientists now, and highly correlated efforts can produce results that no one person can achieve.\u2019<br \/>\n[. . .]<br \/>\nHaynes now resumed the attack with something approaching personal animosity.<br \/>\n\u2018There are flaws in that. Just because someone does the right experiment it does not follow that they appreciate its significance. In fact, if they did the experiment more or less at random we have an independent probability to consider altogether: whether the significance of the result will be appreciated by a non-Einstein or a non-Newton at all. The combined probability that the same person will both do the right experiment and appreciate its significance is just about zero, I should think. Are you seriously suggesting that if Einstein or Newton had never lived, we might still have advanced to the state of our present know ledge in physics?\u2019<br \/>\nWhite took a deep breath. \u2018I am suggesting that as a distinct possibility; and further, I think that we might possibly be even more advanced than we are today.\u2019\u00a0 p. 26<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>After this intriguing (albeit talking heads) beginning, the story becomes something else entirely as the alien Fornax land near the observatory. The Fornax monitor numerous civilisations throughout the Galaxy and, as humanity has recently tripped the atomic-use alarm, they have come to make changes that will prevent humanity developing an interstellar drive.<br \/>\nTheir solution (spoiler) involves sending White back in time to kill Newton and Einstein. This provides an ironic ending to the story, where White\u2019s theories prove to be correct, and humanity has developed more quickly than they had in the world where the two scientists did not die. In this changed timestream, White is an acclaimed scientist, and humanity has conquered the aliens.<br \/>\nThis is a relatively complex story, and one that has a lot of moving parts (the highbrow theory, the aliens, time travel, etc.). It probably has too much going on and, more importantly, it doesn\u2019t quite convince, e.g., why are the original aliens still with White after the changes are made? That said, it\u2019s an entertaining piece and an promising debut. It is a pity we didn\u2019t see more work from this writer.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0023.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"10706\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/?attachment_id=10706\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0023x600.jpg?fit=423%2C600&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"423,600\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;OpticPro A320L&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1561037027&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"SFMv03n01-0023&amp;#215;600\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0023x600.jpg?fit=141%2C200&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0023x600.jpg?fit=423%2C600&amp;ssl=1\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-10706\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0023x600.jpg?resize=423%2C600&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"423\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0023x600.jpg?w=423&amp;ssl=1 423w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0023x600.jpg?resize=141%2C200&amp;ssl=1 141w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 423px) 100vw, 423px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The <strong><em>Cover <\/em><\/strong>by Jim Burns is the one he produced for Kurt Vonnegut\u2019s book <em>The Sirens of Titan<\/em>. The <strong><em>Interior artwork<\/em><\/strong> features two good paintings by Bruce Pennington (above) and Peter Jones (below), and there is also colour work from Tony Roberts (I also liked his piece for <em>Beyond Apollo<\/em>), Eddie Jones, and Patrick Woodroffe (I\u2019m not sure why there are curved exhaust trails coming from the spaceship in the latter painting). One of the B&amp;W story illustrations is by Tony Masero, the other two are uncredited.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0026.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"10708\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/?attachment_id=10708\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0026x600.jpg?fit=423%2C600&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"423,600\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;OpticPro A320L&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1561036380&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"SFMv03n01-0026&amp;#215;600\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0026x600.jpg?fit=141%2C200&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0026x600.jpg?fit=423%2C600&amp;ssl=1\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-10708\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0026x600.jpg?resize=423%2C600&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"423\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0026x600.jpg?w=423&amp;ssl=1 423w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0026x600.jpg?resize=141%2C200&amp;ssl=1 141w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 423px) 100vw, 423px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The short <strong><em>Editorial <\/em><\/strong>contains the usual blather about the stories and articles, but there is an intriguing paragraph at the end:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>We intend to publish special issues devoted to robots and UFOs; interviews with D G Compton and Harlan Ellison; a special French issue with stories and illustrations from France (in translation, of course); a science fact article on gravity which is more than apples dropping on your head; a history of sf film taking over from where John Baxter\u2019s book <em>Science Fiction in the Cinema<\/em> left off; a retrospective look at Jefferson Airplane\/Starship (the most sf orientated group around\u2014as some will have it); an illustrated series about future transport, and lots more American sf artist interviews. How lucky can you get?\u00a0 p. 1<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>There were only three more issues after this one, and they didn\u2019t include the Harlan Ellison interview (presumably this surfaced elsewhere), or the intriguing sounding French issue which I would like to have seen (I suspect Maxim Jakubowski was involved with this project<sup>4<\/sup>).<br \/>\nTwo of the <strong><em>Book Reviews<\/em><\/strong> aren\u2019t actually on p. 17 but appear alongside the <em>Editorial<\/em> on the first page: these include John Bronsan\u2019s piece on <em>A Pictorial History of Science Fiction Films<\/em> by Jeff Rovin, and Malcolm Edwards\u2019 on <em>Hello Summer, Goodbye<\/em> by Michael G. Coney. Bronsan starts off with this:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>It is just that; a pictorial history of science fiction films and little else. It\u2019s silly to be disappointed by a book that lives up to its title but I can\u2019t help feeling that author Jeff Rovin would have produced a much more valuable book if he\u2019d put more work into the text accompanying the photographs. As it stands, the book is just a catalogue of sf films with, in most cases, one paragraph devoted to each film. The main exception is an extended piece on <em>Things to Come<\/em> but this, so Rovin tells us, was written by Alan Asherman, the same person who supplied all the stills for the book. I can\u2019t understand why Asherman didn\u2019t write the whole book himself as his piece stands head and shoulders above the rest of the written material.\u00a0 p. 1<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>That, essentially, is the review: the other 90% is nit-picking about film minutiae, or the merits of various other films. As in the <em>Space: 1999<\/em> piece below, Bronsan does tend to maunder\u2014it\u2019s a pity the editors didn\u2019t get a grip.<br \/>\nMalcolm Edwards has this on Michael G. Coney (whose novel <em>Hello Summer, Goodbye<\/em> he liked):<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>[He] has not been writing novels for long, but he is proving a remarkably consistent and amazingly prolific performer with a real talent for constructing tightly-knit plots; and he seems to have established a name, a style and a string of credits in the batting of an eyelid. When I try to think of precedents, I can only come up with John Brunner at the outset of his career . . . but I would rate Coney higher than Brunner (as he was then). I do wish that he would stop setting his novels in dressed-up versions of English fishing villages, but I\u2019m sure he will, in time.\u00a0 p. 1<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>It is impressive that Edwards manages to describe the novel, and also contextualize Coney, within both the writer\u2019s own career and the field, in such a short space (although I see the review is actually four hundred words long, approximately a paperback page). Edwards also contributes three more reviews (<em>The Man in the High Castle<\/em> by Philip K. Dick, <em>The Jonah Kit<\/em> by Ian Watson, and <em>The Wizard of Anharitte<\/em> by Colin Kapp). He manages to put his finger on one of the reasons I like Dick\u2019s <em>Castle<\/em> but am lukewarm about the likes of <em>Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?<\/em>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Science fiction is full of \u2018classics\u2019 which make a great initial impression but don\u2019t stand up to rereading. <em>The Man in the High Castle<\/em> is one of those rare books which actually improves on second reading. Dick writes with more care, albeit less exuberance, than in most of his novels, and the result is a finely-wrought novel that is one of the best in all science fiction.\u00a0 p. 17<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Peter Weston reviews the plotless <em>Imperial Earth<\/em> by Arthur C. Clarke and, when he compares it with <em>Rama<\/em> and <em>The Sands of Mars<\/em> (1951), opines that the latter is the best of the three.<br \/>\nPeter Linnett reviews the <em>Robert Sheckley Omnibus<\/em> by Robert Sheckley, a volume I bought and loved, and still own.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0006.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"10698\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/?attachment_id=10698\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0006x600.jpg?fit=846%2C600&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"846,600\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;OpticPro A320L&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1561035534&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"SFMv03n01-0006&amp;#215;600\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0006x600.jpg?fit=282%2C200&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0006x600.jpg?fit=625%2C443&amp;ssl=1\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-10698\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0006x600.jpg?resize=625%2C443&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"625\" height=\"443\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0006x600.jpg?w=846&amp;ssl=1 846w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0006x600.jpg?resize=282%2C200&amp;ssl=1 282w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0006x600.jpg?resize=624%2C443&amp;ssl=1 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 625px) 100vw, 625px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>A Look at Space 1999<\/em><\/strong> by John Brosnan is an article about the execrable TV series from the mid-70s, and it starts with this:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>Space 1999<\/em> swings right out of any conventional sci-fi dimension\/ raves the ATV press release, \u2018at the same time taking advantage of all the scientific facts that are known, such as the existence of a phenomenon known as a \u201cblack sun\u201d, a mass of gaseous substance developing into an impenetrable ball from a burned-out asteroid, with such tremendous gravitation that it pulls everything into it, even light. Anything near it simply disappears. It upsets all theories of existence, even time. This provides the background to one episode. Time ceases to have any meaning. The players find themselves in eternity, with the sudden conviction that the whole Universe is a living thought.\u2019\u00a0 p. 4<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>It gets worse, when Brosnan describes the medical condition of one of the characters:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>As for Professor Bergman, well he\u2019s pretty straightforward compared with the others. \u2018He is to some degree the father-figure of the key personnel on Moon Base Alpha. To some extent, he is very much the proverbial professor. He has a brilliant mind which has been responsible for a number of developments in space science, but he is unworldly in many practical matters.\u2019 Apart from that his main problem is that he has a mechanical heart which . . . \u2018because it responds more slowly to nervous stimuli than does a normal human heart, reduces his reactions to most emotional stresses. Whatever the situation, he is almost entirely physically immune from panic\u2019. Just as the script writers are almost entirely immune from logic. If anyone can explain to me how a sluggish heart is going to prevent its owner from experiencing panic I would like to hear from them. The adrenalin might not be pumped through the system so quickly but I would imagine that the only way you could prevent the brain from experiencing fear or panic would be to shut off the blood supply completely\u2014which wouldn\u2019t make for a very lively character.\u00a0 p. 4<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Bronsan\u2019s commentary continues in a similarly amusing vein but, unfortunately, the last quarter of the review is a superfluous examination of the wonderful special effects\u2014as if anyone cares by this point.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0012.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"10700\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/?attachment_id=10700\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0012x600.jpg?fit=423%2C600&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"423,600\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;OpticPro A320L&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1561035732&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"SFMv03n01-0012&amp;#215;600\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0012x600.jpg?fit=141%2C200&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0012x600.jpg?fit=423%2C600&amp;ssl=1\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-10700\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0012x600.jpg?resize=423%2C600&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"423\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0012x600.jpg?w=423&amp;ssl=1 423w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0012x600.jpg?resize=141%2C200&amp;ssl=1 141w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 423px) 100vw, 423px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>News <\/em><\/strong>by Julie Davis is fairly thin on the ground this issue (half the space is taken up by John Bronsan\u2019s <strong><em>SF in the Cinema: The Ultimate Warrior<\/em><\/strong>, which sounds like unpretentious fun). There is information about a revived BSFA, and what seems to be a verbatim press release from the L5 society:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The space colonies would have a virtually unlimited clean source of energy, an abundance and variety of food and material goods, freedom to travel and independence from large-scale government. The initial colonies would provide living accommodation (of a luxury standard) for up to 10,000 people and would provide plenty of jobs, shops, schools, libraries and other buildings. The colonies would also have their own rivers and lakes, stocked with fish, parklands (with birds, animals, trees) and there could even be hills and possibly mountains. Is this just a fanciful dream? No! The space engineering ability exists today and many detailed technical reports are now flowing out of universities and organisations in the USA, where the concept was born. There are participants in these studies from such institutions as [MIT], [Caltech], Princeton University, New York Polytechnic, and even the space agency NASA.<br \/>\nThe first stage of the space colony, called Model 1 or \u2018Sunflower\u2019, could be built before the end of the 1980s.\u00a0 p. 10<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Good luck with that.<br \/>\n<strong><em>Paperbacks on Trial<\/em><\/strong> is the book review matrix complied by Maxim Jakubowski. I\u2019ve mentioned my fascination with these before, and could happily do so again at length: I\u2019ll limit myself to observing that Harrison and Jakubowski both thought Le Guin\u2019s <em>The Dispossessed<\/em> mediocre. The next time you hate a book everyone else loves, remember that you aren\u2019t the only one who feels that way.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0013.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"10702\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/?attachment_id=10702\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0013x600.jpg?fit=423%2C600&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"423,600\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;OpticPro A320L&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1561035791&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"SFMv03n01-0013&amp;#215;600\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0013x600.jpg?fit=141%2C200&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0013x600.jpg?fit=423%2C600&amp;ssl=1\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-10702\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0013x600.jpg?resize=423%2C600&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"423\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0013x600.jpg?w=423&amp;ssl=1 423w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0013x600.jpg?resize=141%2C200&amp;ssl=1 141w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 423px) 100vw, 423px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>On the Way to the Stars: Part Three: Into the Abyss<\/em><\/strong> by Peter Weston discusses the various types of space drives and their pros and cons with reference to various genre works, e.g., \u201cA similar combination of cold-sleep and solar sails appears in Niven and Pournelle\u2019s recent <em>Mote in God\u2019s Eye<\/em>, while a first-class treatment is given by Poul Anderson in <em>Orbit Unlimited<\/em>.\u201d It reminded me I still have several of these books to read (Anderson\u2019s <em>Tau Zero<\/em> is probably the most egregious omission). I don\u2019t know why the covers illustrating the piece are so badly cropped.<br \/>\nThe <strong><em>Letters<\/em><\/strong> are mostly responses to Ian Covell\u2019s letter in a previous issue attacking Joanna Russ\u2019s <em>The Female Man<\/em>. Anne Looker, from Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, replies:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Your prolific correspondent. Mr Covell (SFM Vol 2 No 10) seems to be in danger of choking on his own spleen. So <em>The Female Man<\/em> makes him angry, angry enough to forbid discussion of a book and then go on to hurl abuse at it and the author\u2014an example of masculine illogic perhaps? <em>The Female Man<\/em> made me angry as well, though. I\u2019m sure, for very different reasons. I am not a \u2018feminist\u2019 in the accepted sense of the word nor do I wish to chase the subject of women\u2019s lib into your columns, but I feel that it is up to someone, preferably a woman, to take up cudgels on behalf of Ms Russ and her book. Mr Covell states that the author is an \u2018idiot\u2019. That is his own private view. I am not acquainted with the lady and would therefore hesitate to form so harsh a judgement. However. I fail to see anything idiotic in the views she expresses in <em>The Female Man<\/em>. Admittedly, she exaggerates, but hyperbole has always been the legitimate tool of any writer or speaker who is trying to make a point: and Ms Russ has at least for me succeeded in making her point.<br \/>\n<em>The Female Man<\/em> has some of the qualities of a fable but there is an element of truth in it which brings the reader up short. I realise that the men in the novel are grotesque parodies of the men most women know (and love?) but, nevertheless, we women recognise them only too well. Man at his ghastly worst\u2014being patronising when he means to be nice, man incapable of thinking further than his balls whenever he\u2019s in the company of a woman. There are many men, I know, who are not like this but, unfortunately, Ms Russ\u2019 prototypes still live and breathe and inflict themselves upon us.<br \/>\nOf course <em>The Female Man<\/em> is sexist. That is the whole point of the book. Try altering all the females to males as your correspondent suggests. You will end up not with a work expressing the male chauvinist point of view but with a work expressing nothing at all\u2014incomprehensible claptrap. You could possibly rewrite Asimov, and many others, reversing the sexes . . . but Russ? It\u2019s unthinkable. What she says about the sexes is valid only one way; and it is valid. Perhaps you have to be a woman to realise it. Maybe she goes too far but she does succeed in Shocking readers, both male and female, into an open awareness of what they already secretly know to be true: namely, the injustices and indignities the sexes inflict on each other. In our society the main victims are women, but it can work both ways. Ms Russ\u2019 \u2018heroines\u2019 are generally as unpleasant as her \u2018heroes\u2019, the women\u2019s excuse is that they are more sinned against than sinning.<br \/>\nMeanwhile, it would help if people refrained from childish abuse. It may be comforting to affix names like \u2018male chauvinist pig\u2019 and \u2018female chauvinist sow\u2019 to those whose views we do not share: such a method of classifying individuals means that once we\u2019ve put an individual in a convenient category we can stop considering and evaluating what they have to say. A lazy man\u2019s (or woman\u2019s) way out!\u00a0 p. 28<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The more things change, the more they stay the same . . . .<br \/>\nMalcolm Edwards from Harrow, Middlesex, adds:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Your correspondent Ian Covell seems such a pleasant chap that I would hate to be forced into arguing with him. I would love to be convinced by the clever sophistry of his argument that Edmund Cooper\u2019s clearly self-contradictory remarks were really perfectly consistent all the time, but I\u2019m afraid my mind refuses to bend quite far enough.<br \/>\nI suppose I should apologise for having enjoyed <em>A Far Sunset<\/em> eight years ago. I didn\u2019t actually say that I thought it represented the direction in which sf ought to go. I happen to enjoy, for example, the stories of Leigh Brackett, but I would hate Philip K Dick or J G Ballard to start copying her. In fact, oddly enough. I don\u2019t happen to look upon sf as a single object to be steered in a particular direction, as though it were a car.<br \/>\nIt\u2019s strange that Mr Covell should demonstrate such hatred for Joanna Russ\u2019 views, as expressed in <em>The Female Man,<\/em>\u00a0and yet should apparently wish to defend Edmund Cooper\u2019s views, which he admits are \u2018reverse-identical\u2019 to Ms Russ\u2019. I am equally out of sympathy with both of them, though I can see, sadly, that it is the attitudes of people like Mr Cooper which produce overreactions like Joanna Russ\u2019. What it is that produces Ian Covell\u2019s over-reactions is another matter\u2014but that\u2019s his problem. \u00a0p. 28<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The final letter is about UFOs, and news of a special UFO issue\u2014which thankfully did not appear.<br \/>\n<strong><em>The Query Box<\/em><\/strong> by Walter Gillings is the regular pre-internet Q&amp;A column (you don\u2019t know how lucky you are these days). I learned this about Thea von Harbou, the impressive actress from <em>Metropolis<\/em> (which I just watched for the first time recently and thought marvellous):<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>[Fritz Lang] wrote the screenplays of some of his early movies, such as <em>Destiny<\/em> (1921), before collaborating with Thea von Harbou, who later became his wife. She was the author of the novel on which the film <em>Metropolis<\/em> (1926) was based, and which was published here in 1927 by the Readers Library.\u00a0 p. 28<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>This is quite a good issue, with better than normal artwork and stories.\u00a0 \u25cf<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0036.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"10714\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/?attachment_id=10714\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0036x600.jpg?fit=846%2C600&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"846,600\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;OpticPro A320L&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1561035873&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"SFMv03n01-0036&amp;#215;600\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0036x600.jpg?fit=282%2C200&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0036x600.jpg?fit=625%2C443&amp;ssl=1\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-10714\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0036x600.jpg?resize=625%2C443&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"625\" height=\"443\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0036x600.jpg?w=846&amp;ssl=1 846w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0036x600.jpg?resize=282%2C200&amp;ssl=1 282w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0036x600.jpg?resize=624%2C443&amp;ssl=1 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 625px) 100vw, 625px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">_____________________<\/p>\n<p>1. ISFDB lists this as \u201cJanuary\u201d because, when there is no date on a magazine, ISFDB uses the actual month of publication for the issue date. However, Mike Ashley states in <em>Gateways to Forever<\/em>, p. 128: \u201cThe first issue of <em>Science Fiction Monthly<\/em> appeared on the last Wednesday of January 1974.\u201d He adds in footnote #147: \u201cAll issues were undated, carrying only an issue and volume number, but technically the first issue was for February 1974 and it continued on a monthly schedule.\u201d<br \/>\nSo\u2014all the ISFDB dates are out by one month, and this can be seen most clearly by looking at v01n11 and v02n11, the two Christmas\/December issues, which are listed as November ones.<\/p>\n<p>2. The Williamson story is one of the few stories from this British magazine to be selected for a \u2018Best of the Year\u2019 anthology. It appeared in <em>The Best Science Fiction of the Year #6<\/em> edited by Terry Carr (Dell Rey\/Ballantine, 1977). (Bob Shaw\u2019s <em>Dark Icarus<\/em> was also in a \u2018Best\u2019, but it appeared in <em>Worlds of If<\/em> a couple of months after it was published in <em>Science Fiction Monthly<\/em>).<\/p>\n<p>3. Renmore\u2019s ISFDB <a href=\"http:\/\/www.isfdb.org\/cgi-bin\/ea.cgi?149025\">page<\/a> shows only this story and a couple of fact articles, all from the mid-70s.<\/p>\n<p>4. Maxim Jakubowski was a regular contributor to both <em>Science Fiction Monthly<\/em> and <em>SF Digest<\/em> (the single issue successor to <em>SFM\u2009<\/em>), and he later edited\/translated the anthology <em>Travelling Towards Epsilon<\/em>, a collection of French SF. Its ISFDB <a href=\"http:\/\/www.isfdb.org\/cgi-bin\/title.cgi?35822\">page<\/a> is here.\u00a0 \u25cf<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0034.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"10712\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/?attachment_id=10712\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0034x600.jpg?fit=846%2C600&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"846,600\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;OpticPro A320L&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1561037250&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"SFMv03n01-0034&amp;#215;600\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0034x600.jpg?fit=282%2C200&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0034x600.jpg?fit=625%2C443&amp;ssl=1\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-10712\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0034x600.jpg?resize=625%2C443&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"625\" height=\"443\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0034x600.jpg?w=846&amp;ssl=1 846w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0034x600.jpg?resize=282%2C200&amp;ssl=1 282w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/SFMv03n01-0034x600.jpg?resize=624%2C443&amp;ssl=1 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 625px) 100vw, 625px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<span class=\"synved-social-container synved-social-container-follow\"><a class=\"synved-social-button synved-social-button-follow synved-social-size-16 synved-social-resolution-normal synved-social-provider-rss nolightbox\" data-provider=\"rss\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"Subscribe to our RSS Feed\" href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/SFMagazines\" style=\"font-size: 0px;width:16px;height:16px;margin:0;margin-bottom:5px\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"rss\" title=\"Subscribe to our RSS Feed\" class=\"synved-share-image synved-social-image synved-social-image-follow\" width=\"16\" height=\"16\" style=\"display: inline;width:16px;height:16px;margin: 0;padding: 0;border: none;box-shadow: none\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-feather\/synved-social\/image\/social\/regular\/16x16\/rss.png?resize=16%2C16&#038;ssl=1\" \/><\/a><a class=\"synved-social-button synved-social-button-follow synved-social-size-16 synved-social-resolution-hidef synved-social-provider-rss nolightbox\" data-provider=\"rss\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"Subscribe to our RSS Feed\" href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/SFMagazines\" style=\"font-size: 0px;width:16px;height:16px;margin:0;margin-bottom:5px\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"rss\" title=\"Subscribe to our RSS Feed\" class=\"synved-share-image synved-social-image synved-social-image-follow\" width=\"16\" height=\"16\" style=\"display: inline;width:16px;height:16px;margin: 0;padding: 0;border: none;box-shadow: none\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-feather\/synved-social\/image\/social\/regular\/32x32\/rss.png?resize=16%2C16&#038;ssl=1\" \/><\/a><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ISFDB link1 Archive.org link _____________________ Editor, Julie Davis; Executive Editor, Pat Hornsey Fiction: The Highest Dive \u2022 short story by Jack Williamson \u2217\u2217\u2217 Deep Freeze \u2022 short fiction by David Grigg \u2217\u2217\u2217 Second Einstein \u2022 short fiction by C. D. Renmore \u2217\u2217+ Non-fiction: Cover \u2022 by Jim Burns Interior artwork Tony Roberts (x2), Eddie Jones, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science-fiction-monthly"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Pcj7-2Mq","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10690"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10690\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14679,"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10690\/revisions\/14679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}